Rising table tennis star makes last eight at national schools championship

A YOUNG table tennis star from Chickerell reached the last eight of a national school's championship.

Lottie Griffiths played some fantastic attacking table tennis to progress to the quarter finals of the Girls under 11 event of the English Schools National Championships.

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The event was staged in Wolverhampton, with Lottie representing Chickerell Primary Academy and Dorset Schools.

In the group stages, Lottie won all of her games, beating the top county girls from Cornwall (3-0), Hampshire (3-0), Northants (3-1) and London (3-0).

Progressing to the last 16, Lottie played a girl from Kent who had won the previous two meetings between the players.

Lottie lost the first game, but then settled and came back strongly to win the match 3-1.

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The eleven-year-old's impressive run came to an end in the quarter finals against the Berkshire representative, who was also a finalist in the under 11s English National Championships the week before.

However, Lottie, who is starting to match the best players of her age group, took her opponent right down to the wire in three extremely close sets, eventually losing 11-9, 12-10, 11-8.

The rising star began playing table tennis at Chickerell in year 3, aged 7, and every year has stepped up her training, building up match-play experience and quickly progressing to higher levels. This season Lottie has been playing for Preston in The Weymouth & District Table Tennis League, finishing fifth in the Division Three averages, which is very impressive for a then 10 year old starting out in her first season.

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